PPP to create business opportunities for smaller investors

– can invest in oil sector starting with $50k

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has unveiled an ambitious plan to make the country’s booming oil and gas sector more accessible to small investors, with investments starting as low as $50,000. The announcement was made during the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) press conference, where Jagdeo outlined several initiatives aimed at ensuring that ordinary citizens, particularly small business owners, can share in the wealth generated by the oil industry.
“We’ve identified at least three major business opportunities in the oil and gas sector that will be tailored specifically for small people in the economy,” Jagdeo stated. He emphasized that the goal is to provide smaller investors with a chance to participate in this lucrative sector by offering affordable investment opportunities. “Investments can start in increments of $50,000 or $100,000, giving regular people a chance to access business opportunities in a sector traditionally dominated by larger players.”
The Vice President explained that these initiatives are part of the broader goal to create more inclusive growth. The PPP administration wants to ensure that smaller, local businesses and individuals aren’t excluded from the country’s oil boom. He noted that this initiative would involve “exclusive investment vehicles” for small-scale investors, keeping larger corporations and players out of these opportunities, which will allow for a more equitable distribution of wealth.
“This is a huge step forward,” said Jagdeo. “It’s something we’ve been discussing for a while now, and we’re now ready to move forward with the concrete steps necessary to make this happen. Small people too, small businesses—this is what we are focusing on.”
One of the key components of the PPP’s strategy to support small investors is a simplification of bureaucracy. Jagdeo emphasized that setting up and running small businesses in Guyana need to be easier, with a focus on reducing red tape. This includes simplifying processes related to government permits, company incorporation, and even adjusting tax rates for small businesses to encourage growth.
“We need to create more opportunities for small businesses through public procurement and other government policies,” said Jagdeo. “We already have thousands of new contractors, but we’re going to expand that pool even more.”

Supporting small farmers and miners
Jagdeo also spoke about the government’s plans to support other small sectors, including agriculture and mining. He noted that small farmers, particularly those with limited land holdings, often struggle to grow wealth from their land due to insufficient support. He pointed out that the government is working on policies that will provide these small farmers with additional support and access to new opportunities.
For example, the government is examining ways to assist farmers with access to new land, particularly land that has been reclaimed and drained to avoid flooding. The government’s plan to build two large drainage canals in Berbice will help address these issues by draining tens of thousands of acres of previously unusable land. “These are lands that have been unoccupied for a long time. Now, they will be opened up for distribution to farmers, especially small farmers,” Jagdeo said.
“There are complaints from small farmers about leasing government land. They say that the people leasing the land to them – often living abroad – are charging them $40,000 per year to lease an acre, which cuts into their profits,” Jagdeo explained.
He stressed that the government is addressing this issue by reducing lease rates and opening up more land for cultivation.
With new drainage canals in the works, Jagdeo believes this initiative will dramatically increase the availability of arable land for small farmers, further boosting the sector and creating new opportunities for growth.
Small miners, too, are a focus of the government’s development efforts. Jagdeo acknowledged that many small miners face challenges related to recovery rates and access to land, and he assured that the government is working to address these issues by improving infrastructure for miners and giving them better access to land.